Sailor Moon Crystal

Alas there has only been one episode of Sailor Moon Crystal, but it was effective none the less. Seasoned fans should have no fear of the new world presented by the original creator, Naoko Takeuchi. With only watching the first episode, I am confident it will only continue to satisfy.

Is there a difference between the beloved anime from the 90’s and the newest incarnation? As of yet, no, but there probably will be. The main purpose of the newest series is to devote itself to the original manga that inspired the 90’s anime. After watching the first episode of Crystal, fans will argue that it is virtually frame by frame the same as the first episode of the original show. There will be those moments throughout the newest anime, but the old anime jumped shipped and changed up the story more than a bit at times when compared to the original manga.

While the first season of the original anime followed the manga pretty closely, I suspect that we will not see a relationship between Zoisite and Kunzite. This relationship never existed in the manga. Some may be upset over this, but alas it is for the sake of continuity. The four Dark Kingdom Generals were originally the guardians and friends of Prince Endymion. Though never actually confirmed, they may have been romantically involved with the inner senshi. Naoko Takeuchi is the one that suggested the romantic relationship in the past lives of both the Earth and Moon warriors.

If the new anime makes it, and I cannot see a reason at this moment that it would not, the following seasons will probably be greatly affected. There will most likely be no Doom Tree storyline. While it isn’t horrible, it wasn’t really my personal favorite storyline. It just never seemed to fit with the rest of the show.

So what do I love about Crystal? The animation is gorgeous. It looks like it was ripped from the very pages of the manga. I know that there has been some groans about the unrealistic look of many of the female characters, but I don’t take it personally. It is a cartoon. In comparison to most of the other anime out there, Sailor Moon Crystal still wins for being less offensive. I cannot say enough about how much I love the art in this anime. The characters look so ethereal and magical just with this change. Basically someone came in and said we are going to redo your favorite cartoon, and we are going to clean it the hell up. They sure did, too.

All of the favorite characters are still back and at the end of the episode there was a silent nod to Ami, so maybe the next will be Sailor Mercury’s episode. Umino is back as well as Naru. They look exactly as they always have except they have that same finesse as with all the animation for the show. Of course, Mamoru makes an appearance and exactly as he did in the manga.

Mamoru is actually the character that I hope they get right this time around. I have found a way to ignore the awkward pedophile-esque relationship between Usagi and Mamoru from the anime with the knowledge that he was actually about seventeen in the manga and still in the high school. Why someone thought that it would be an awesome idea to suddenly make that man about twenty and in college when he meets and starts his relationship with Usagi is crazy sauce. He is way way more interesting in the manga and has better character development. Tuxedo Mask and Darien were my cartoon crush growing up. I wanted to be with a guy that always protected me just like him. Sailor Moon didn’t always needs saving, but he was there regardless. I also hope, they throw that awful green sports jacket away as well.

At the very least I am excited for this show, yes, even as a thirty year-old woman. This has always been one of my favorite love stories. I am a hopeless romantic, so a little bit of that hooks me well. This show depicts two people that have fought space, time, and death to be together. Edward and Bella have nothing on these two. Annoyed that I will only get a new episode every other Saturday, at least everybody will know what I will be doing next Saturday.